Proof of Life
by spiderlillie
Summary: Post 3x01 Life is Fluid - Voight drops by to check on Jay still hospitalized following the Keyes case.


Following Life is Fluid, Voight checks on Jay.

I've chased this idea since watching Season 3, episode 1 and read so many other great fan fics about it. There were so many things that could have been explored and this is my take on one of them.

* * *

All Voight can make out at first in the dimly lit hospital room is the huddled lump that he supposes has to be Jay Halstead in bed. He's on his side, tucked under a blanket that's much nicer than standard thin hospital. Voight assumes it's something his brother has brought from home. Will or at least someone seems to have brought several things. A tablet lays charging beside his phone on a bedside table. A duffle bag with a hoodie and a few scattered items spilling out of it are on the floor. On the tray is a couple of bags of chips and candy bars along with a pack of gum.  
It's late afternoon now of Jay's second full day in the hospital, Voight had figured Jay might had been up worrying the nurses about going home. Instead the kid is still knocked out. He can hear a slight hitch in each breath he takes in. According to Mouse, there were eight rib fractures, five on his left side and three on the right. The taser burns on his stomach and chest hadn't been too severe but some of the worse one were definitely going to scar. Even in the dim light Voight can make out the bruises. His face, his arms. There's more he knows, ones he can't see. He clears his throat to test how out Jay is and the boy doesn't even flinch. Trudy had sent uniforms down the afternoon they had brought Jay in to guard the room and Voight could see now exactly how much they were needed. He's not sure how long he sits there, silently watching Jay, reflecting on the last couple of weeks. Young Nadia being killed, Erin jumping off the deep end... It said a lot about whatever was privately going on between her and Halstead that she came back for him. Honestly, he's never been concerned about this boy breaking her heart, she was capable of taking care of her heart all by herself. It was Jay getting his heart broken by the hurricane of a girl he had had a hand in raising. Perhaps that's why he came here, feeling the need to check on Jay. Not that he wasn't capable of taking care of himself too. He'd proven that three nights ago when he was being chained up, beaten, shocked, tortured, who knows what else and never gave them anything.

 _When Erin opened the doors, standing there blood covered and wide eyed, he had frozen for a second. Were they already too late?_  
 _"He's in there." Answering the unspoken question from the entire team. They had all rushed in around her, leaving her and Voight alone. He had grabbed her arm to steady her. She was bloody and he couldn't tell if it was her own blood or someone else's. Just as long as it wasn't Halstead's._  
 _"Halstead is secure." Antonio announces over their coms. "Mouse, roll Ambo to our location."_  
 _"Thank God." Mouse had breathed over before beginning to call for the ambulance. His voice is quick but clear over the com. Voight listens carefully as Mouse relays a message from Ambo 61 that had been in place. And Antonio answers questions. Conscience, coherent, bleeding, no visual broken bones._  
 _"Lindsay," Voight begins but she stops him._  
 _"I'm good, Hank. I just need some air." She said shaking him off, heading for the door. "He's in there, he needs an ambulance and his brother. You've got a scene to process."_  
 _Voight had sighed and watched her walk out around SWAT towards the front door. He'd handle the situation with her later but she was right, he had work to do. Four bodies on the floor that Atwater and Ruzek along with some other officers were checking while Dawson and Al were helping a very dazed looking Jay sit up._

Jay gasps a little in his sleep and sits up suddenly.  
"Easy kid." Voight says, holding his hands up peacefully from where he's been sitting keeping watch. There's a couple of small butterfly closures near Jay's hairline on the right side of his head, his left eye is almost still swollen shut, and both his biceps have a patch wrapped around them. He grunts in pain before carefully laying back.  
"Ow."  
"You okay?" Voight asks.  
"Yes sir, I'm okay. Thank you for asking. How are you?" It's an automated response. The solider's reply. He's only been beaten to a pulp but he's good, thanks.  
"Better than you probably."  
Jay nods. "Well that's good... Because this sucks." He attempts a smile but Voight can see the grimace in his non swollen eye and the the way the side of his busted lips pulls uncomfortably.  
"You really good?" Voight asks again.  
Jay shakes his head slowly but retains his attempt of a smile. "I feel like I got strung up by linebackers and had the mess beat out of me."  
"Kinda did from what we saw." Voight reminds him and Jay lets out a sigh.  
"How bad was it?"  
"Pretty standard proof of life video. Only lasted a couple of seconds," Voight tells him a little hesitant. "But I'm guessing you went through it a lot longer."  
Jay shrugs after a few seconds and starts untangling himself from the blankets.  
"Easy Halstead, where ya going?" Voight asks catching his elbow and moving to help him stand. Jay grunts like an old man, once he's on his feet and even with Voight at his side he doubles over ever so slightly. He takes a deep breath, before standing back up straight.  
"I just gotta pee. I'm good." He says giving Voight a weak smile.

 _Voight kept an eye from across the room on Halstead. Dawson hadn't moved from the younger man's side since he got to him. He's checked him over the best he could and aside from being bloody and bruised, he must be okay. Atwater had gotten some wipes from one of the SWAT guys and tried to help Halstead clean up some of the blood from around his face. Jay was more alert than Voight had been expecting. He kept looking over Atwater's shoulder though, trying to catch a glimpse of where Erin had gone. She hadn't returned though. Either she was outside or long gone, either way, they'd handle that once Halstead was settled somewhere away from a house with dead bodies._  
 _"I think I can walk out there." Jay began insisting when Ruzek gave them the ETA on the ambulance._  
 _Dawson had shook his head a little bit and laughed. "Sure you're up for all that?"_  
 _"I think so. Still got a little of that adrenaline high." All he wanted was to at least try to walk out of here on his own two feet. He had saw them set up the camera, knew at least part of his beating had been recorded. He knew they'd seen it, he just wanted a little bit of dignity back._  
 _And if Erin could conquer the demons she had today, maybe he could manage to walk out._  
 _"Alright then." Dawson agreed standing up to position himself to help the younger man to his feet. Atwater followed quickly and had carefully taken a hold of Halstead's other arm. "On three."_

"So, uh," Jay begins, he looks more alert but he's still staggering a bit as he walks back towards the bed slowly. "This an official visit or social call?"  
"Little of both." Voight answers. He's just finally been able to read the words on the bright yellow band around Jay's right wrist: FALL RISK. "Mostly social."  
"Cool." Jay says, easing himself down in the other chair beside the bed. He let's out a small grunt as he sits and frowns.  
The one thing he was currently having the most trouble with was range of motion. Being tied and beaten and shocked the way that had done him had put all kinds of strain on his muscles in his upper body and midsection. He wants a drink of water from the water cup on the little rolling table but can't even imagine trying to get it right now.  
"You good now?" Voight asks. Jay nods forcing a smile. He fiddles subconsciously with a speck of tape and small tube stuck into the inside of his left elbow. Voight studies him for a few seconds, Halstead is dressed in blue flannel pajama pants and a dark gray t-shirt that's loose on him, very different from the blood covered button-down shirt and black trousers that he was wearing the other day. His eyes come back to the spot on Jay's arm that he keeps messing with. "Isn't that suppose to be connected to something?"  
Jay looks up and then back down at his arm. "Oh yeah, IV. The needle thing is still in, I just unhooked the line, it kept getting tangled in my sleep. It was just mostly fluid. I'm going put it back together before Will gets back so he doesn't freak out."  
"He's been worried about you." Voight says. Mouse had been the one to initially call and talk to Will but Voight had called him for himself, the first the night they got the video to assure him Jay was alive and they were going to do everything possible to bring him home. The second to let them know he was en route to the hospital. The second phone call, even though he had good news had been the hardest. The strain and stress in Will's voice had been so evident. He was expecting the worse news possible when he had answered Voight's call and even once he knew his brother was alive, he still sounded scared. Will had been through a lot of the last couple of weeks too. The investigation, Nadia, watching his brother deal with Erin leaving him, and then nearly losing him.  
Jay does his classic smirk and shakes his head a little bit. "He worries too much."

 _The door banged shut and Voight rolled his eyes. It'd been years since he'd had grouchy teenagers in his house, slamming doors, stomping all the way through the hall. The last couple of quiet years he had enjoyed greatly. He had taken another sip of his coffee just as Erin appeared in a huff. She collapsed into a chair across from him and immediately started to tear into a bag of breakfast food she had picked up in a drive thru. Voight took one final sip before giving up completely on his quite morning. Obviously she was pissed about something and now it had fallen to him. "Somethin' the matter?"_  
 _"They didn't put any freakin' jelly in here." She had replied rapidly. It only took a second before she had shoved her chair back and headed towards the fridge. "Other than that I'm great." He watched her march across to the fridge, open the door, rifle through it, slam the door shut, come back across the room, and then scrape her chair across the floor as she plopped back down._  
 _"Funny, my furniture is starting to say something different." He told her dryly as she had shoved a large piece of biscuit in her mouth._  
 _Erin had sighed and rolled her eyes. "Will wouldn't let me in to see Jay."_  
 _Voight shrugged. "It's early, he's probably sleeping in."_  
 _"No, like as I was leaving I overheard him talking to some nurse about how Jay had woken up this morning and was already giving him hell. And she was all 'I may have to go and have a little chat with him' and he was like 'you need to, because currently you're the only person he'll listen too'."_  
 _Voight had just calmly sipped his coffee. Will would have his reasons for sending Erin away. And just because now that they didn't have to pretend there wasn't something that had been going on between them didn't mean he needed to be involved in right now. He just wanted have his coffee first._

"They gave me a shot of, uh, morphine, I'm actually on my second dose. I haven't had it in years. And there's a reason for that." Jay tells him, he's looking in Voight's direction but it's mostly around him.  
Voight nods, silently understanding what Jay is telling him. He's worn out and high as a kite and not his usual self. "Well, I won't be here long. Just wanted to stop by, see how you were healin' up, get an idea of how long you'll be here, when you'll be coming back upstairs."  
Jay shrugs. "Will's going to take me home in the morning when he gets off shift, I was supposed to go home today but I'm still pissin blood and they can't really do a ultrasound cause my belly is a mess." He lifts his t-shirt, showing a glimpse of gauze patches, bruises, and slight burns. "So Ethan wants another night of 'observation' to be on the safe side. But we're all pretty sure my kidneys are just bruised. I can't be by myself for the next three days. He said two weeks minimum before returning to work, I'm thinking it'll be more like a week... but that's not really why you're here is it." Jay says after a moment.  
Voight clears his throat. "If you mean about your visit with Dr. Charles, I know. The department requires it, he'll have to probably talk to you a couple of more times before you get back to active duty. I trust his judgment, he's a good man. You're going to be fine."  
Jay shakes his head. "Well that too. But you really came cause Will told Erin she couldn't see me this morning."  
There's a freedom that comes in Jay's drugged state. Voight chews it over in his mind, the boy isn't totally wrong.  
"Will just thinks that I took an 'unnecessary risk'" Jay does air quotes with his fingers. "He just needs a minute, nobody is really mad with anybody, just the last couple of weeks have been stressful you know, and I mean I'm glad it was her that came in there, we got out together. But Will, Will's my big brother and sometimes we disagree, but he's just looking out for me. He told me about it cause he felt bad about it later. I'm okay with Lindsay and I'm okay with my brother. It's just... Life is weird and I'm rambling."  
"Morphine." Voight stops him. Jay gives him a crocked smile and swallows thickly, eyeing the water cup again. Voight follows his gaze and stands to get it for him, carefully passing it to young detective. He thinks about dropping it there but changes his mind. He sets back on the edge of the bed as Halstead takes a few small sips of water, he wants to look him in the eyes and tell him what he needs to hear. "Halstead, look I came by to check on you, plain and simple. I'm very proud of how you handled yourself. I just wanted to let you know that and make sure after everything you've gone through the last couple of weeks that you're good. All this other stuff doesn't matter, it's getting you better and back upstairs that's important to me right now."  
"Oh" Jay sits there for a second and nods. He wasn't expecting that. Voight studies his face and notices he's a little pale and pink cheeked, his body still working overtime to heal. "I think I need to lay back down for a little while."  
Voight almost laughs, the shock evident in Jay's face. But he doesn't wait for Jay to attempt to stand by himself and instead holds out a hand for Jay to help pull himself up with. It's only about three steps to the bed but he stays close by just in case. Jay sits with a grunt and rubs a hand down his rib cage before finally pulling himself back into his nest of blankets. Voight hands him the IV line that is carefully been wrapped around the railing. "Might ought to put back that back in."  
"Guess so, it's got my antibiotics in it too and I think maybe a muscle relaxer." Jay takes it and quickly with an ease and skill Voight didn't know he had reconnects it and unclamps it. "Don't ever get taken, tasered and beaten. It sucks."  
He can't help but let out a chuckle. "I'll take your word for it." It only takes a few more minutes for Jay to get settled back in. Voight prepares to leave, he's done what he came here to do. Jay Halstead is here, still alive and breathing and will most definitely be okay.  
"Thanks." Jay mumbles groggily. He's already curled back on side and starting to dose off. "I really appreciate you coming by to check on me."  
Voight out of his fatherly instinct pulls the cover up to Jay's shoulder. "Take care of yourself."

* * *

 **End!**


End file.
